


Unleashed

by Shadowwolf2579



Category: Dragon Age (Video Games), Dragon Age - All Media Types, Dragon Age II
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-04-24
Updated: 2018-04-29
Packaged: 2019-04-27 02:52:43
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 4
Words: 5,222
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14416110
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Shadowwolf2579/pseuds/Shadowwolf2579
Summary: Surari just wants her freedom, to get away from the too prideful man that is her father. All her life she has been caged and treated like a dog, so now that she is free she finds herself trying to figure out how to live as the humans do.





	1. Achivement of Insanity

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Prologue

Felipe Sutton, was nobody special. Just a half-blooded, fully human looking child who lived with his mother in the Denerim AIlenage. His birth was not planned, though that did not mean his mother loved him any less. There was those in the Ailenage who despised him, well not him exactly, but what his father had done and the fact that Felipe is the living proof of the mistreatment the elves suffer here.

When Felipe reached the age of thirteen, he set out on his own, despite the please his mother gave. Felipe was tired of being treated differently by the Ailenage elves, and in truth he wanted to become something more. He had big dreams of helping Thedas in some large way. A soilder or perhaps a Templar. With this in mind he traveled a bit in Ferelden in search of warriors to teach him the skills he would need to follow his dreams.

After about five years of traveling Ferelden and learning the warrior skills, he finally decided it was time to start the path to his dream, Felipe would become a Templar.

Though not all dreams are so easy to reach. Felipe was rejected many times. He was too old to teach one said. Another said he didn't have the right skills for it, nor did he have the right 'stuff' to make it as a Templar.

Each time he was rejected with a different excuse, he felt a blow to his pride, his heart, his very being. Finally he became outraged and vowed to prove them all wrong. He would do something to show them that he was worth becoming one of them and even more so to show them their mistake by turning him away.

How was he to achieve this goal? He was not even sure of that at the moment, so he decided to travel once more, only this time further then Ferelden. He would go to many different countries and reach things on magic, history, and lyrium, making notes here and there along the way.

In his travels he met a Dalish woman, who taught him many things about her culture and htier magic. The two fell in love and she choose to leave her clan behind to travel with him. It was only a year later that they had their first child, a boy who looked half human and half elf. Felipe had decided to stay in the country they were visiting for a few months, at least til their son was able to travel.

A few months had past, and Felipe had been deciding where to go next when a carrier had found him and gave him a letter. The letter came a bit of a surprise to him and Felipe was not sure what to expect when he opened it.

It was from his father.

The human noble who had forced himself on Feliipe's mother. He had wrote to Felipe to apologize, for what he had done, for not being there, and for not writing this sooner. He informed Felipe that he was dying and wished to rid himself of all regrets before he did so. He had tried to contact Felipe's mother but she had unfortantly past a year ago from an illness. Felipe's father also wrote that he had no next immediate kin except for Felipe and so in hopes to make up for lost time he leaves everything to Felipe and his family.

Felipe was not sure how he felt upon readin the letter, but he would claim what was his. He took his family back to Denerim and settled into the estate now belonging to him. He sold what he didn't need and used the money to turn the dungeon below ground into a study and lab of sorts, it was then at this time his second child was born, a girl who looked fully elven.

The little girl was pale skin-ed and had dark reddish brown hair, her eyes were a deep sky blue. Her mother named her Surari.

Five years had past and Felipe had hired mages to come and work along side him in his lab. He was so close now to achiving his goal of making the chantry regret the day they turned him away.

With money, and some ties in Orzamar, Felipe had gotten quite a bit of lyrium in different forms. First step to his experiment was to place raw Lyrium inside a sealed room of the underground lab. He then placed different animals inside to see which could withstand or adapt to the exposure.

Slowly each died, or went crazy and had ot be killed, though the one that lasted longest was the wolf he had gotten. It was the biggest of the animals he had acquired and it seemed to withstand longer to the effects of Lyrium, though it had gone insane after so long and Felipe had ot put it down.

It was not a complete waste though. He used the blood from that wolf and combinded it with many other things, including lyrium. Using notes from a Teventer ritual he had learned of in his time spent there, he grew even closer to his goal.

When he belived he had everything in order, he decided to go through with the testing. Who to use though? His wife he decided. She had promised herself to him and she would become something greater.

She died,

She didn't even make it through the whole ritual. Perhaps a more willing host, he had though as he turned his attentions onto his son.

He died breathes after the ritual ended.

Frustrated, Felipe went back to his notes, locking himself away for weeks before he found a minor mistake. Adjusting his research he decided to try again, with his daughter this time.

Success!

She had lived through it and was still living weeks later. He had done it. He had enfuced lyrium into the blood, mixed with a few other things. He had mutated his daughter, giving her the ability to change from wolf to elf and elf to wolf, perfectly. She looked like a normal forest wolf and would beldn in well when hunting mages.

Testing her further he learned she was immune to most magic. The only issue he seemed to have was her constant whining about how she hurt, though training and time fixed that.

When she was about ten years of age, Felipe took her, in wolf form, collared and leashed, to the Templars and chantry. He explained what he had done. A perfect hunting dog, she could sense magic and was immune to it, that and she blent in with the wild so she would never be suspected by anyone.

They were not impressed.

They deemed him as a monster, no better then a blood mage. Furious with their claims, and afraid of losing his hard earned pet. He fled to Teventer, there he was welcomed and admired by all he had done. He made a deal with a magister. He would continue his research and make more 'pets' and give all credit to the magister. In return Felipe became the right hand of the magister, his partner, and highly valued.

Surari, however, became a caged pet. Brought out on leash and Collar meant to guard the Magister and her father. She was treated as a lowly slave, and nothing more.


	2. Washed Ashore

The world was dark, and numbness was all she felt, that was til her lungs screamed for air and in response she took a deep breath in through her nose, instantly regretting it as her world began to come alive to her sences.

First to make it's self known was the stinging-burning sensation that ran through her nose, up her muzzle and into her head, which was now reeling in dizzing pain, causing her to squeeze her eyes even more shut to try and fight it off. She was confused, she couldn't seem to recall where she was, why she hurt and what had happened.

Her chest ached as her lungs burned with each now shallow breath she was taking. Her throat was dry, and sore, her mouth begging for fresh water to soothes it's thirst. She needed to cough, her body needed it, but she faught with every being in herself to do so. She hurt and she feared the action on it's own would tumble her back into darkness.

"Oh dear! You poor thing. Are you alive?" 

The voice was almost lost to Surari's ears, the throbbing pain in her head bringing forth a harsh, roaring thudding in her ears as her heart beat on. She was alive, that was for sure. Straining her ears against the pain she tried to take in more of her surroundings.

Feet crunching on loose sand, strange birds calling in the distances, waves crashing ontop of one another before lapping at a dry surface somewhere behind her seemed to bring back some memories.

She had been being chased by hunters, but hwy? She remembered running across sand and rocks in the dark evening in attempts to escape something, but what?

Her paws began to ache at the memory, the black paw pads had been scraped up and cut with her nighttime scramble across the coasts sharp rocks.

"You are moving, so I think you must be alive."

She was closer now, the female who was talking to Surari. She had noticed that the female's voice, it sounded Dalish, almost alike to her mothers in some way. 

"What did you find, Merrill?" Another female asked, this tiem Ferelden.

"Oh, Hawke! It's a dog, it looks wounded, well alright it looks more like a wolf, but I don't think there are many wolves on the coast, are there?" The girl named Merrill was rambling on and Surari took this time to imagine what she must look like.

A sore, half soaked, mess of salt matted dark reddish-brown fur - more brown then red - with who knows what on it. Sand? Blood? Birds? Surari tried to stretch her senses out to take in more of her body and what it was feeling. She regretted it though. Her hind leg stung and she could feel warm liquid running down it. 

_'Blood indeed'_ She thought as she began to take in the beating heat of the sun washing over her body and making her uncomfortable under the thick fur, which did nothing to help her thirst.

"Hawke." Came a deep voice, male, and teventer. Her blood ran cold as she suddenly remember what she was escaping. 

She had been on leash and collar at her father's partners side. He was a magister and had gone out to gather supplies for a new experiment or something, she was tugged along as guard. Though he made a mistake. He died her leash to a tree and turned his back to her. She knew it was foolish but it was her chance. She chewed through the leash quickly and bolted. So quick in her frantic get away that sheh ad run towards the ocean. Not ready to give up she scrambled across rocks, that was til she found one that was slippery and slid off, crashing into the ocean below...

The rest was unknown after that, perhaps she was caught, pulled out and made to go back, but if that was the case then why so many strange voices?

"You should know better then to run off." Another male, ferelden as well.

"Merrill found something." The female named Hawke was explaining.

More footsteps as the group came closer. Hawke and Merrill was crouched at her side. The male ferelden near her hind leg and sheh ad lost the male teventer, his footsteps too light to track.

"She is wounded." The ferelden was saying.

"Can you fix her, Anders?" Hawke asked with concern. 

"I don't usually go around healing dogs." He paused, and Surari felt his gaze on her, causing her skin to itch and crawl. "But I think I can heal this wound." He concluded.

"A collar." The teventer male was at her head. "Teventer." His word came in a growl.

"Are you sure, Fenris?" Hawke's attention snapped to the male who she had called Fenris.

"The magisters put these things on their slaves. It is made of fine leather and silver, and branded with a symbol to show where the slave belongs." Fenris scoffed in what seemed like disgust. "They probably sent more hunhters here to find me, brought a dog with them this time."

"Is there anywhere you don't see slave or hunt-" Anders was cut off, though he continued to clean her wound on her hind right leg.

"It might be a trap, we should still be careful." Hawke was speaking to Anders, her voice calm and soothing but stern.

"If it was a trap, then we should have been ambushed already." Anders replied a bit bitterfly.

"Anders." Hawke's voice was warning him to stop, but still gentle.

A heavy sigh came from the male before he fell silent, her skin now tingling and sent an almost unbearable itching sensation to her wound, before it was over and the pain came rushing back at full force.

"Something wrong?" Hawke seemed worried.

"My magic, it is not working." Anders was frowning, she could tell from his voice. He was easy to read it seemed, unlike Fenris.

Curious now, too curious to not at least. She opened her eyes, blinking away the blurriness and the sting from the sun and the salt. Soon she held them open staring out over almost white sand dotted with dark rocks some large some small. There was cliffs scattered about. Her eyes slipped over the land she could see infront of her before landing upon the white haired elf infront of her. His back was turned to her and she couldn't make out much of him besides his white hair, the fine armor he wore and possibly silverfish-white tattoos on his arms.

"She's awake! Oh thank the creators you are alive." Merrill was now in view, smiling at her.

A blur of movemtn, however, from the corner of her eye, caught her attention. [b]"Where is your master , dog!?" Snapped Fenris. His eyes were green and his neck and chin covered with tattoos as well and his eyesbrows were black. 

_'strange'_ she thought inwardly before she tried to force her head to lift. Her body felt like stone, too heavy to move, but she had managed to pick her head up.

It was decided then, by Surari, that it was a poor idea, and she had wished she hadn't. Her head surged again in pain, making her feel dizzy, disoriented, and nausea. Her eyes closed tightly as her body spasmed and her lungs forced all the salt water that had been in them out, letting it splash upon the sand.

She groaned, the sound coming out more of a canine whine then anything else. She couldn't keep herh ead up, it hurt. She rested it on her paw as she became more aware of Anders finishing up on her wound on her leg. He had taken care of it and bandaged it the old fastion way, without magic. 

"The poor thing was half drowned." Merrill was saying. "Do you think someone in Kirkwall lost her?"

"Probably not, not with a teventer collar." Hawke offered. "Though she might have fallen off a boat."

"That could be likely." Fenris' eyes were locked on her, his glare seeming to burn her fur away, making her feel small and exposed. She wanted to crawl away but she couldn't move.

"We should take her to the Hanged Man. Varric might know if any ships got caught in a storm and are missing some," a pause for a minute or two before adding "cargo."

"She is not cargo!" Merrill gasped.

"I think Anders has a good idea. We should take her back to the city, she needs water and rest." Hawke spoke up once again, Surari realized it was to keep peace and stop fighting from breaking out.


	3. Decisions

The Hanged Man was... Surari wasn't sure of the word that would be proper to use without hurting the owner's feelings or causing any problems. Still the scent of stale ale, vomit, and something else she could not quite place was almost enough to make her stomach twist in knots.

Surari sat at a warped wooden table in the Lowtown tavern, she was no longer in her wolf form, she looked rather small compared to the group around her with most of them being humans. She was thin and looked like a wreck. Her dark reddish brown hair that was a little longer then shoulder length, now hung in thick locks, stuck together by salt water and grime, complete with the diagle fringe that always crosses over her face resting over the bridge of her nose.

Her lyrium blue eyes were sore and tired, even though she had just woken up, again. Her skin sticky with salt and covered in sand and dirt with a few pieces of tiny rocks stuck to her skin that hadn't just fallen off yet. She wore an old faded gray tunic that had holes in it, and a pair of dark pants, also faded and torn in places. She had no shoes and the leather collar still remained around her neck, now a bit big on her.

Surari had fallen asleep while Anders tended to her wound, she hadn't realized it, not til she woke up inside some building with a bowl of water in front of her. She hadn't thought much of where she was at, not at first at least, water being the first thing on her mind as she quickly finished off the bowl. Afterwards she had focused on changing back to her normal form to explore and figure out where she was, talk about confusion when the group saw an elven girl leave the room instead of a wolf.

A mage, Anders had offered to explain the reasoning behind her change. Fenris seemed displeased at that idea. Hawke still questioning why Anders still couldn't heal her, that had to be more to it then just being a mage. Surari had been nervous at all the attention, but with some comforting words and encouragement from a dwarf, named Varric, she soon joined the group and introduced herself, before answering questions that were thrown at her.

The first was asked by Anders, if she was a mage. She had thought about her answer, thought about lying to them, but decided against it. She told her story as best she remembered it. How her father had been obessessed with some kind of research and the expierment he tried when she was five. She told them about how Lyrium ran through her blood which from what she was told was why she could change into a wolf and back.

The next was asked by Hawke, why was she on the beach? Surari had answered truthfully once again. She told them of how her father kept her as a pet, how the magister took her on leash to show her off and to use her as a guard. How when his back was turned she took a chance and ran for it. She finished that story with the last thing she remembered, falling int othe ocean.

A few more simple questions came from the group, and each one she answered with some hesitation, mostly being shy and not used to talking to much. It would take her a while to remember all the names of the companion that traveled with Hawke.

Now she sat here, all questions answered for now at least, while the group chatted amoungst themselves. Surari was staring down at the table, her finger lightly pressed to it's surface as she traced a dark pattern in the wood. Unsure if it was stained or something else, and decided it best that she didn't know.

"We need to think of a place she can stay." Surari looked up at hearing this and her eyes quickly found the person who was speaking. The red-haired guardswoman named Aveline, if she remembered right.

"I would love the company, but sadly Varric has informed me that if we keep giving rooms away then the place will start losing money." The pirate was saying.

The dwarf laughed. "There you go not listening to me Rivani, I said that if we keep giving rooms away then there will be none for customers." Varric replied smoothly, a twinkle in his eyes showing he was not mad, not that his voice even hinted at it.

"I read between the lines." Isabela said sending him a smile that looked like it meant more then being friendly.

"Well there is no room at the barroks for her." Aveline said breaking the two's conversttion and drawing attention back to the matter at hand. 

"I would offer a bed to her in the clinic, but there are so many that come to me that it is rare that I have a bed open." Anders offered.

"We all known Gamlen's place is packed." Hawke said with a sigh. 

"Not like it's really fit for anyone to stay in." Hawke's sister, Bethany, added with a frown.

"Oh, She could stay with me in the alienage. I mean it's not so bad once you get used to the smell, the muggings, and the occasional stabbings." Merrill was saying.

"Occasional?" Aveline asked raising a brow to Merrill.

"Well," Merrill looked down at her drink. "More so then then not I suppose." She answered.

"So we intend to let her stay with the witch?" Fenris finally spoke up sounding displeased.

"We have no where else she can go." Hawke offered lightly.

"Unless you want to take her to your lovely mansion in hightown, elf." Varric said, something about his tone told her that his mansion was not 'lovely' but something else.

"Oh, perhaps then she can give us the details of you running room to room dancing." Isabela was teasing, but still she sounded pleased at the thought.

"It was a joke." Fenris replied flatly.

"I think Merrills is best. two elves squatting in hightown will just make the guard more suspious." Aveline put in.

"And if the witch decides to use her for her blood magic?" Fenris asked sharply.

"I would not use her, I would not use anyone." Merrill replied seeming shocked at his words.

"You mages are all the same." Fenris growled.

"So what, since you don't trust us _mages_ , you want her to live on the streets. You think that is better then staying with a mage?" Anders asked sounding annoyed.

"It is." Fenris glared to Anders. "Besides, I did not say she had to live on the streets. As the dwarf said, I have a mansion in hightown, and it has tons of rooms. I'm sure I can find a bed that is not broken."

"Because that is what a lady wants. To stay in a mansion that has holes in it, crumbling walls and floor, and broken glass amoung other things scattered about. Have you even picked up the corpes since the last time we were there?" Anders asked. 

Fenris looked irritated but he did not answer.

"Didn't think so." Anders huffed taking a long drink from his mug.

Surari had been watching as the group argued back and forth, feeling more and more nervous as it went on. The last thing she wanted as to cause trouble. 

"Why don't we ask Surari where she would prefer to stay?" Bethany offered, Hawke nodding in agreement with her sister. 

"That sounds fair." Merrill said in agreement. 

"So how about it, what would you pferfer to do?" Varric asked looking to Surari now, the group turning to face her as well. 

Surari looked down suddenly interested in the dark spot on the table again. She hated being the center of attention. She went back to tracing the mark when she heard Anders speak.

"It is alright to speak, you can pick Merrill, we all know it's better then staying with that wild dog." Anders offered. Surari did not look up, instead her head lowered a bit more.

"She was a slave. Choices are something not given to her. Attention is something also not given to her often, so stop forcing her to make a choice quickly." Fenris almost snapped at Anders.

Surari felt a bit better at Fenris' words. He understood how she felt. She shifted a bit as the group slowly turned their attention away from her to give her time to think on it, while they went back to talking about something else, an expedition of some fort.


	4. Grass Is Greener

Four weeks had past quickly, and tonight they were all to meet at the Hanged Man for their once a week wicked grace game night. Surari had attended each time, but still wasn't quite sure on how to play the game, nor did she have any money to do so. Still she did like going, she had made friends here and it was a good time to spend the night talking with them all. 

Though this night was a bit different then most, or it was going to be. Tonight was the night she was to give her final decision on where she was to stay. She hadn't been able to decide on that four weeks back, so Hawke suggested that she spend two weeks with Merrill and two weeks with Fenris. Which seemed like a great idea at the time, but now she was even more torn. Eahc had their ups and downs.

Merrill was sweet and so welcoming, even if a bit nervous or unsure at times. Her house had leeks in the ceiling and was dusty and cramped. Though despite all this it beat living in a cage and it felt welcoming with Merrill there. The dalish elf was always happy to talk or tell stories, Surari would be lying if she said she didn't miss that.

The alienage was scary though. Muggings, rapes, stabbings. It was all, overwhelming. Surari was scared to even poke her head outside the door, let alone go out. Merrill would go to the market sometimes and pull Surari along, though without the dalish elf at her side, Surari wouldn't even think upon leaving.

Fenris' place was large, and dark. It also had leeks in the ceiling, broken things, dust, it was strange to her to have free roam over such a large house, and more then once she had gotten herself lost and had to call for help, which Surari was sure Fenris wasn't too excited about. Though he never complained, about the third time she had gotten lost he made a joking remark. At the time she hadn't known he was joking, but thinking over it later it had made it'self obvious to her. 

Fenris was quiet most of the time. He would talk if she brought up a conversation and even then sometimes it was a simple word of an answer or two. Still it was comfortable there to her. He seemed to understand her more then she had ever thought possible for someone else, though it shouldn't surprise her. She found out that he was much like her, or perhaps her like him.

"The tile that goes there is missing." Fenris' deep voice had caught Surari's attention pulling her out of her thoughts. She look up at him then back down to the floor. She was sitting cross-legged on the cold, broken, tiled floor, messing with some grass that was growing through a pretty large gap in the tile. 

"How does one lose a whole chunk of tile?" She asked looking back up at him, humor dancing in her eyes.

She saw the corner of Fenris' mouth twitch but besides that his frown never left. "It turned to ash. One of the demons Hawke slayed here burnt it." 

Surari gave a horrifyedl ook before looking back down to the grass patch in the floor. "You should do something before a forest grows here." 

A half chuckle came from him as he approached her. "Perhaps it will make the place feel more like a home." He was joking, at least partly she noted.

Surari was playing with the gras strands once again, staring down at them as if they were the most interesting thing she had ever seen.

"Decide where you want to stay?" He crouched beside her watching her fingers in the grass. She was expecting this, though not til later tonight.

"I-" She closed her mouth, clenched her jaw and swallowed hard.

"You are not a slave anymore." Came his voice, rough as usual, but something within it was soothing to her. "You do not have to please anyone. What do you want?" He asked.

She had asked herself that question many times, and she wasn't even sure. 'to stay free' she had answered one time. 'to learn how to fight and help her friends and earn her keep, perhaps get a place for her own' She had answered another time. 

She felt the vibration in her throat before she heard the sound come from her, and before she realized she was humming in thought. She sighed heavily, the sound no more longer there.

"I want to be able to have my own place, to not burden anyone. I want to fight along side you and the others, to help the city." She answered never taking her eyes off the grass.

"Helping this city is impossible. Hawke is," He paused as if thinking of a word to use. "A stubborn and foolish woman." Even though they should have been insults they didn't seem to be spoken as such. 

"I still want to help her. Her goals seem noble." Surari's hand rest on the grass no longer moving.

"Then I can teach you somethings if you want." Fenris offered.

"So... I should stay here?" She asked looking to him now. 

"Stay where you like. We can set up training lessons either way."

She looked back to the path of grass and frowned at how little help he was being at the time. Though truthfuly he was being a great help to her, even if she didn't want to admit it. 

He moved to get to his feet and she looked over to him. "We need to get going. The othes will be heading for the hanged Man." He began to walk towards the entery hall and she scrambled to her feet to hurry after him.

"Don't leave me behind. I don't want to get lost in Hightown and wind up at the Rose again." She frowned.

A laugh, rare for him, but still it warmed her insides and caused a smile to come to her face, why she had no idea. Perhaps it was just how friendship worked. 

"You wondered away from my side while we were in the market. That was hardly my fault." He walked through the door and waited for her to follow.

She huffed in respone, not having anything else to really say, it had been her fault, but she wasn't going to admit that now. She followed him out into the cool air of the evening streets of Hightown.


End file.
